Georgia Farrell

Georgia Farrell

“In the same way that some people say art moves them, that’s how I feel about architecture,” confesses Georgia Farrell, who has brought that obsession to her stylish, structural designs for Rowan.

Fascinated by art and design from an early age, Georgia went on to study textiles at university, and quickly discovered that handknitting was where her heart lay.

“AThe idea that I could be creative with a practical purpose blew my mind,” she explains. “It’s funny though, I never wanted to work in fashion. I was convinced it wasn’t for me and that studying textile design would lead me to creating fabrics for interiors.

“That quickly changed when I chose knitting as my specialism. Suddenly I wanted to explore knitting as a fabric for everything and anything.”

Taught to knit by her “lovely Nanny” at a young age, Georgia turned to family members once again for guidance as she expanded her handknit skills. None were taught on her course, which concentrated on machine knitting.

Georgia’s final university collection mixed machine and handknitting with her profound love of architecture. “It was inspired by mathematics, geometry, tessellating patterns and architecture. It was very sculptural and textural, all about the fabrics informing the physical form of the garments.”

The Rowan design team spotted Georgia’s work at the annual Knitting and Stitching Show at Alexandra Palace and commissioned her to design a couple of pieces - the Arrow snood and cardigan.

“The design was inspired by one of my favourite buildings I visit often in the City of London,” she says. “The Leadenhall Building, with it's vertical column of equilateral triangles running up the side like arrows. It grew from that first single downloadable pattern into designing for the main magazines and other publications.”

Georgia’s unique eye for structural detail make her designs for Rowan easy to recognise, and architecture continues to be a strong influence on her work.

“My old studio neighbours were architects and I used to love picking their brains and seeing what they were working on. They were actually really interested in knitting from a structural perspective. I would definitely love to collaborate on a project with architects, I think the crossover could be really interesting.”

On a rare day to herself Georgia often visites one of London’s most iconic landmarks for inspiration; the brutalist Barbican Centre in the City.

“Modern architecture reflects my style, both personally and as a designer. I want my knitwear to have a strong, modern aesthetic, just the way I like my architecture,” she says.

“If I have a day off I like spending time at the Barbican, looking at the exhibitions, having coffee and wandering around the estate or just walking around different parts of London with my camera.”

There is always something to inspire her design work in these meandering explorations of the capital but if she’s not out researching her next idea, Georgia loves to spend time with friends and family. “My nan is 94 now and although she can no longer knit herself, every time she sees me knitting her face lights up and that makes me very happy!”